


Liked

by F00T



Series: The Takeover are #Soulmates [4]
Category: Professional Wrestling, 新日本プロレス | New Japan Pro-Wrestling
Genre: Couch Cuddles, Dialogue Heavy, Fluff, LA Dojo, M/M, Social Media
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-19 18:17:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22935787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/F00T/pseuds/F00T
Summary: Kenta helps Shibata Instagram stalk his Young Lions.
Relationships: Hideo Itami | KENTA/Shibata Katsuyori
Series: The Takeover are #Soulmates [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1412200
Comments: 5
Kudos: 20





	Liked

**Author's Note:**

  * For [luxeinferior](https://archiveofourown.org/users/luxeinferior/gifts), [thespiansparkle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thespiansparkle/gifts).



“Pull up Clark’s account next.”

“Hmm...it doesn’t look like he’s on here.”

Kenta sat on the arm of Shibata’s chair, pulling up one leg and tucking it under his other as he lazily scrolled through the Instagram search results. He felt Shibata lean in against him, examining the screen of his phone. “Good for him,” he muttered as his hand snaked its way around Kenta’s waist. “The others spend far too much time on their phones.”

“Do you want me to show you their profiles too?” Kenta asked.

Shibata thought for a moment before grunting affirmatively. 

“Here’s Alex, then,” he said, tilting his phone screen so Shibata could swipe through the pictures.

“When is he taking all these workout videos? They aren’t allowed to have their cell phones in the dojo.”

“Do you really think that stops them?”

“Truthfully? No. Perhaps I’m getting a bit lax with them,” Shibata said. 

Kenta snorted. “You? Lax? If anything, you can afford to let up on the boys a little. They’ve been doing well, give them a little freedom,” he said. “Let them have a dojo selfie or two. It won’t hurt to let them show off a- wait, pause here, you’re in this pic.”

“I’m blinking in it.”

“Shut up, you look good.”

“I never look good in photographs,” Shibata said. “I told them not to post ones I’m in. I’ll tell Alex to delete it later.”

“You always look good.” Kenta double tapped the photo, his lips parting into the smallest of smiles when he noticed Shibata furrowing his brow in response. “Besides, you’ve never told me not to post pictures I take with you.”

“I know you won’t listen, Kenta-san.”

He grinned wide. “And I only pick my best photos of you to put online. So you have no reason to stop me.”

“Asshole,” Shibata chuckled.

Kenta fidgeted as he balanced on the chair’s armrest, trying to free his rapidly-numbing foot from underneath his knee. He leaned against Shibata as he shifted his weight; he felt his arm flex against his lower back to give him the support he needed as he changed positions. It was harder to balance on the narrow armrest without a foot tucked underneath him but it at least allowed him to massage some life back into his tingling limb.

“Hey, move over,” Kenta said before sliding into the chair with Shibata, flopping back against his chest and letting his legs drape over the armrest he had been sitting on.

“You’re going to break my furniture if you can’t sit on it properly,” said Shibata as he shifted in the chair to make room for his old friend snuggling up against him.

“Don’t buy cheap chairs then,” Kenta said. “I’ll get you a new one if it breaks.”

“You’ll give the boys ideas that it’s okay to sit like that if they come back early and see you.”

“Let them see. You’re getting lax with them now, remember?”

“You’re terrible, Kenta-san.”

Kenta laughed. “And yet you still keep me around. Here, let me show you Karl’s instagram.” 

“I imagine it’s all just pictures of himself in his underwear,” Shibata said. “I’ve lectured him about putting his lewd photos online already.”

“As if you don’t make them all wear even smaller briefs to the ring! You wore the same thing, dumbass!” Kenta elbowed him lightly in the ribs.

“That’s different!”

“It’s skin and spandex either way. Besides, look, he’s wearing clothes in most of the pics he posts now.”

Shibata reached around Kenta to scroll through the Young Lion’s account, the corners of his lips turning downward the slightest bit every time he noticed that Karl had also posted some pictures he was in.

“You can’t tell me these all look bad,” Kenta said.

“I look old in them.”

“You’ll be forty in six months, you are old. We both are.”

Shibata snorted. “Forty isn’t old,” he said under his breath.

“It's old enough. Besides, wasn't this taken right after those training camps you put on? You're allowed to look a little scruffy post-workout.”

“I still think it’s a bad picture of me.”

“Fuck off, you look perfect,” Kenta muttered as he liked Karl’s post as well. “I can’t believe you’re still wearing my shirt though.”

“Our shirt. We should bring it back.”

“You never let it go away.”

“You know what I mean,” said Shibata. “You’re a free agent now, Kenta-san. Come wrestle in New Japan.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Kenta could feel Shibata shifting beneath him, his legs moving to one side and giving him just enough room to sink deeper into the chair. He rest his head back on Shibata’s shoulder and held his phone closer between them so his old partner could swipe through Karl’s pictures at his own pace. It was practically part of their routine whenever Kenta visited the dojo at this point: once they both started settling in for the evening, he would skim through his social media and Shibata would start requesting he look up people they both knew. Kenta didn’t mind, though he did find it amusing that Shibata couldn’t resist checking in on their fellow wrestlers’ accounts despite his outright refusal to ever use any social media himself.

“You know,” Kenta said after some time. “I’m this close to just setting you up with your own Instagram. I know you have a smartphone.”

“What would I even use such a thing for?”

“You don’t have to post anything! Just make an account under a fake name, lock it if you’d prefer, and you can spy on your trainees’ social media even when I’m not here.” 

“I don’t need to spy on them all the time. Just checking in on occasion is fine,” Shibata said. “Besides, I still don’t see the point of setting up an account if I don’t intend to use it. What would I even post? I’m not interesting.”

“Well, I think you’re plenty interesting. And I know you have plenty of friends back home who’d care.”

“I have Line and SMS for that.”

Kenta laughed. “You really are getting old if you’re satisfied with only using your phone for that.”

“Maybe I am. Now pull up Nakamura-san’s account, if he has one. I haven’t heard from him in a long time.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've been tied up with some real life stuff for the last month or two so this is me trying to ease myself back into writing again. Based somewhat on a group DM discussion about Shibata not being hip to the youth of today.


End file.
